[quote]goose64 wrote:
Welcome aboard! I too am anâ??old timerâ??, a 47 year old who has been back in the game for about six years now. What I can tell you is donâ??t expect the old body at 47 to do the same thing it could at 41! He-he.
Like you, I also found this site doing some internet searches on lifting for the over 40 athlete and come upon T-Nation. Having recently read Dan Johnâ??s book, â??Never Let Goâ??, he mentions the T-Nation website countless times, so when I found it I stayed and lingered. (If you havenâ??t read Johnâ??s book I suggest you do, there is much in there that is of the interest for the over 40 lifter, mostly because Dan has been down a lot of the same roads we have).
But anyway, I would say your routine looks good, but if you can lift 4x per week and keep it up over the long haul, then I envy you. My body can only handle 2x per weekâ?¦maybe 3.
Guys our age had the misfortune or fortune, however you want to look at it, to grow up in the â??Weider Ageâ?? of weight training where we pumped, blasted, super-setted, and annihilated our muscles into submission 5 days per week, and bench pressed and curled on every one of them in an attempt to be like our hero, Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Today, I am just glad to say that I can continue to lift, which is a victory in and of itself. I canâ??t lift the same poundages I could when I was in my 20â??s and 30â??s, but I can go to the gym and get in my scheduled workouts and shoot the bull with the fellas just like old times.
As a Master lifter, you have to be respectful of your bodyâ??s diminished recovery ability, something that I dismissed for years as just plain defeatism. Lately, and this I suspect is a result of being a little older and wiser, I began to discover some of the classic workout programs that are as old as dirt, such as the Doug Hepburn program and Bill Starrâ??s 5x5 program, but have been relegated to the scrap heap due to their lack of imagination and suspicious simplicity. I mean, in the eyes of an 18 year old back in the 80â??s, how could one get big by only doing 3 basic exercises and not going to absolute failure? Give me the Weider muscle confusion and overload principles!
Iâ??m not going to detail out the 5x5 or the Doug Hepburn programs here, any search on this site or on the internet will give you all the details you need to get started with these excellent programs. Over the course of my return the last five years, I fumbled around with many programs that I thought represented Old School (ex. Weider reduex, Stuart McRobert, HIT, Draper push-pull, Zane blasting routines, etc.) I am glad I finally rediscovered real â??Old Schoolâ?? with 5x5 and Doug Hepburn.
I used to compete in powerlifting back in my 20â??s, so I am currently in the midst of a 5x5 program to build a solid base for the rigors of a more specific powerlifting cycle. So far, so good. But alas, as with many over 40 lifters, I am currently hampered by some old injuries. They include: surgery 20 years ago on a congenitally dislocated elbow leaving the joint weak, pins and screws in my wrist, bouts with disc problems and sciatica in the lower back, and sometimes achy knees. But I have learned to train around them and understand my limitations because of them.
With 5x5, I like the â??powerbuildingâ?? concept and how it is reminiscent of the old mentality when there werenâ??t such clear-cut distinctions between a the muscle-building disciplines of bodybuilding, powerlifting, and Olympic lifting like there is today. There was a time within the brotherhood of iron it wasnâ??t unusual for athletes to pursue the various forms concurrently.
Now thatâ??s Old School, and I love it. Good luck!
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Goose - thanks for the insights…
I’m shooting for 4x a week, but that really is a challenge given work schedule, family, and kids. This week I got in 3 (so far). Have some work to do today, but may still be to get one more in today.
I am finding that as I stick with it regularly, my strength is coming back - I’ve been able to hit 12 reps on most sets, even when I increase the weight. If I hit 12 reps, I try to bump up the weight, but am probably taking too long to really find my plateaus - but I am pushing myself, so as long as I do that, I’m happy.
Have really been focusing on keeping good form - and liking the classic core movements (squats, flat bench, and military presses). Really focusing on keeping good form - afraid of an injury at this age.